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Nate Harper
Also known as Nathan E. Harper and Nathan Harper. Background * Chief of Police in the City of Pittsburgh since October 18, 2006 * 53 in 2006 * Lives in Stanton Heights and family includes Wife, Cindy; daughters, Tonya, 32, Crystal, 30, and Natalie, 18 * The chief's job pays $92,285 in 2006 Insights * Ravenstahl_promotes_police_chief%2C_Nate_Harper * Some past tax paying troubles surfaced just days before he was to be confirmed by City Council on October 19, 2006. Links * Police * Police-plank-Chief Media * Chief nominee worked his way up from October, 2006, Tribune Review Details * A 1971 graduate of Schenley High School; attended Thiel College and Point Park University * Joined the Pittsburgh police bureau as a patrol officer in 1977; worked as a K-9 officer, motorcycle officer and plainclothes investigator; was a sergeant in narcotics and traffic divisions and at the city's North Side station; assistant chief of operations, 1998-2006; named assistant chief of investigations in April. * I hope that ... I can show all those young people out there that, no matter what color you are or where you come from or how much you struggle in life, anything is possible," said Harper, now assistant chief of investigations. * ''"He has an impeccable record and the respect of the rank-and-file, and can really rally the troops," said Ravenstahl, who gave Harper full power to "organize his administration as he sees fit." '' ''"My grandfather was a Baptist preacher, and he always told me that you can't make a melody using only the black keys on the piano, just as you can't make one using only the white keys," he said. "Skin color doesn't matter. Doing the job right does." Others * Earl Woodyard * Paul Donaldson Nate Harper would retain Assistant Chief Regina McDonald over administration; name Cmdr. William Bochter as assistant operations chief; and move Cmdr. Maurita Bryant from narcotics and vice to assistant chief of investigations. Nate Harper applied for the unfilled chief's position with PAT police in 2005. Asked whether he'd accept that job if offered, he said, "Right now I'm focused on improving this department and making it the best it can be." A priority is strengthening the bureau's relationship with faith-based and community organizations and re-establishing neighborhood block watches, he said. He wants more officers walking beats, and said the Street Response Unit and IMPACT narcotics unit must address two of the city's biggest problems -- drugs and gun violence. Ravenstahl said Harper could steer the bureau back to the "business of law enforcement" and stop its political infighting. Last week, Ravenstahl withdrew his nomination of suspended city Operations Director Dennis Regan as public safety director amid allegations that Regan interfered in disciplinary action against an officer. Councilman Len Bodack, who chairs the public safety committee, praised Ravenstahl's choice, saying Harper "came up through the ranks, and he knows the streets and the operations." Harper has earned officers' respect and admiration, said James Malloy, president of Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1. "Any of us guys would walk through fire for him, because he's honest and approachable and he knows how to manage people," said Sgt. Aaron Beatty, who oversees the robbery squad. Retired assistant chief Craig B. Edwards, now a corporate security officer at U.S. Steel, remembers when he and Harper were in a 1991 motorcycle detail leading then-Vice President Dan Quayle's motorcade to Oakland for the funeral of Sen. H. John Heinz III. They noticed a truck ahead with a door open. Secret Service agents started "freaking out," Edwards said, and Harper sprung into action. He sped in front of the group, drove alongside the truck and slammed the door shut with his foot, and then circled around to rejoin the motorcade. "He never even stopped, flinched or slowed down," Edwards said. "That's just Nate. When he knows something has to be done, he does it -- quickly, effortlessly and with a cool head. He's a born leader." Tax Questions Mayoral spokesman Dick Skrinjar said Web sites listing delinquent taxes for Harper were not up to date and that he owes none. Harper attributes that blemish on his record -- not paying taxes on time -- to an "oversight." Records show the city and Allegheny County filed tax liens on Harper's home 11 times since 1996 for late tax and sewage bills totalling $5,521. The bills were paid shortly after liens were filed. The county's Web site shows him owing $394 for 2006 property taxes and $2,274 for city and school taxes, which Harper said were paid. He said the tax payments were supposed to be paid from a consolidation loan he and his wife secured several years ago. "We came to find out that through some oversight, the checks weren't being sent out like we'd thought they were," he said. Tim Stevens, chairman of the Black Political Empowerment Project, pushed for Harper. "What this city needs ... is someone in charge of this department who has the respect of both the black and white communities," Stevens said. History Growing up in the Hill District, Harper watched his mother and other black women clean the homes of wealthy white people and vividly recalls running home the night Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 -- amid rioting in Pittsburgh's streets. "I ran from Oakland to our house on Milwaukee Street ... and I saw people breaking windows and destroying everything," he said. "When I got to our street, folks were sitting on their porches with their shotguns. It was a difficult time to grow up in." Harper